MJL  R  T  Y  R  S 

TO     THE     REVOLUTION 

In  The  British  Pr is ion-Ship 

I  T.     The 
WALLABOUT     BAY 


Nevr  York 

17  H  Arthur  &  Co.,   Stationers, 
Ho. 39  Nassau-Street , 
M,DCCCLV« 


MARTYRS 


TO     THE     REVOLUTION 


IN  THE 


BRITISH  PRISON-SHIPS 


IN  THE 


WALLABOUT    BAY 


N  E  W- YOR  K: 

W.    H.    ARTHUR   &    CO.,    STATIONERS, 

No.   39  NASSAU-STREET. 
MjDCCCLV. 


T3 


5 
f 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  truth  has  recently  found  notice,  that  there  has  been 
gathered  beneath  no  monumental  pile,  the  dust  of  those  hundreds 
upon  hundreds  of  our  fathers,  who,  by  their  heroic  patriotism 
and  daring  love  of  liberty,  were  impelled,  in  the  great  crisis  in 
our  country's  history,  to  serve  in  our  then  infant  navy ;  and 
who,  through  British  cruelty,  were  sacrificed  to  the  sacred  cause 
of  that  Revolution,  in  prison-ships  in  the  Wallabout  Bay  !  The 
fact  has  come  to  engage  attention,  that,  for  seventy-five  years, 
Americans  have  reaped,  in  almost  thoughtless  joy,  their  harvests 
of  gold,  from  a  soil,  the  producing  vigor  of  which  is  in  the 
ashes  of  those  martyrs,  without  the  wonderful  truths  connected 
with  their  inheritance  adequately  resting  in  their  understandings, 
and  with  no  worthy  degree  of  gratitude  expressed,  in  written 
record  or  enduring  memorial,  of  those  who  thus,  for  the  end  set 
before  them — the  good  and  glory  of  their  country — counted  not 
their  lives  dear  unto  them  ! 

Upon  the  shores  of  the  Wallabout,  in  the  sands  of  which  lie 
whatever  is  unscattered  of  the  remains  of  those  worthies,  a 
movement  has  begun,  designed  to  redeem  the  obligation,  with 

; 
989593 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

respect  to  them,  which  neglect  in  the  past  has  entailed  upon  this 
generation.  Americans  associated,  in  the  County  of  Kings,  by 
representation  in  a  Convention,  sought  and  obtained  needed  in 
formation  in  the  premises,  and  have  formed  and  organized  a 
Board  of  Direction,  to  act  efficiently  in  this  great  interest.  At 
their  instance,  GEORGE  TAYLOR,  Esq.,  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn, 
prepared,  and  furnished  for  such  use  as  might  be  deemed  best  to 
subserve  the  undertaking,  the  Address  which  these  remarks  are 
intended  by  the  Committee  on  Publication  to  introduce. 


BRITISH  PRISON-SHIPS, 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH, 

THE  story  of  the  Prisons  in  the  City  of 
New-York,  and  of  the  Prison-Ships  in  the 
Whallabocht  Bay,  during  the  war  for  our  In 
dependence,  is  the  darkest  in  the  history  of 
our  Revolutionary  struggle.  War,  at  all 
times  dreadful,  here  assumed  its  most  fearful 
character.  Occasional  acts  of  inhumanity 
and  cowardly  brutality,  committed  in  the 
heat  of  battle,  when  the  thirst  for  blood  is 
whetted  by  its  indulgence,  may  be  excused, 
as  the  temporary  triumph  of  passion  and 
vengeance  over  reason  and  humanity;  but 
for  the  cold,  calculating  cruelty,  regularly 
adopted,  and  steadily  pursued  towards  our 
unfortunate  countrymen,  there  was  no  ex 
cuse.  The  voice  of  civilization  and  human- 


6  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

ity-  ..cried  .out  .against  it ;  and  the  results 
proyed..tliajt  .an  insulted  Providence  frowned 
upbn'iV  widi'felarful  indignation. 

Savage  nations  sometimes  put  their  pris 
oners  to  death ;  but  this  has  never  been 
openly  practiced  by  the  civilized  nations  of 
the  earth.  The  custom  of  the  cultivated 
nations  of  antiquity,  of  selling  their  prison 
ers  into  slavery,  met  the  most  positive  re 
probation  in  the  beginning  of  the  Feudal 
Ages;  and  the  system  of  ransom  which  was 
then  adopted,  yielded,  early  in  the  Seven 
teenth  Century,  to  the  more  liberal  and  hu 
mane  policy  of  exchange  of  prisoners  under 
cartels.  Until  that  exchange  took  place, 
the  law  of  nations,  as  well  as  the  principles 
of  humanity,  required  the  belligerent  parties 
to  provide  proper  accommodations  for  their 
prisoners,  and  to  supply  them  with  healthy 
food,  and,  in  case  of  sickness,  with  proper 
medical  attendance.  How  England  observ 
ed  these  rules,  in  the  case  of  our  imprisoned 
countrymen,  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
world  may  judge. 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  7 

The  battle  of  Brooklyn,  and  the  capture 
of  Fort   Washington,   in   the   fall  of  1776, 
put  the  British  in  possession  of  nearly  four 
thousand  prisoners  ;  and  by  the  arrest   of 
citizens  supposed   to   sympathize    with   the 
patriots,  they  soon  increased  the  number  to 
jive  thousand.    Our  enemies  were  now  com 
pelled  to  adopt   the  system  of  parole,  or  to 
turn  all  the  public  and  other  large  buildings 
in   New- York  into  prisons  for  their  recep 
tion.     Their  feelings   of  humanity,  as  well 
as  their  cowardly  policy,  led  them  to  adopt 
the  latter  course  !   The  churches,  and  sugar- 
houses,  and  prisons,  were  crowded  with  the 
unfortunate  patriots  to  such  an   extent,  in 
some  instances,  that  there  was  not  space  for 
them  to  lie  down  to  rest.     And  among  them, 
they  threw  their  own  criminals,  vile  wretches 
gathered    from  the    purlieus  of  their  large 
cities,   as  if    they    were    fit    associates    for 
men  whose  only    crime    had  been    love    of 
country  and  of  liberty.     But  this  moral  pes 
tilence    did    not    suffice    to     gratify    their 
malice  ;    for  into  these  crowded  prisons  they 


8  BRITISH   PRISON-SHIPS. 

scattered  the  seeds  of  disease  and  death. 
The  prisoners  were  poorly  fed,  on  worm-eaten 
bread,  and  peas,  and  putrid  beef,  which,  not 
unfrequently,  they  were  compelled  to  eat  in 
its  raw  state  ;  and  the  more  surely  to  accom 
plish  the  objects  contemplated,  those  sick 
with  small-pox  and  infectious  fevers  were  left 
among  them  unattended,  without  medicines 
to  relieve  them,  or  water  to  cool  their  parch 
ed  lips.  Denied  the  light  and  air  of  heaven, 
and  starved  by  their  inhuman  keepers,  and 
broken-hearted  by  the  supplications  and 
groans  of  their  distressed  kindred  and  coun 
trymen,  they  sickened  and  died,  and  were 
thrown  like  dogs  into  their  native  soil,  unless 
it  happened  to  be  the  good  pleasure  of  Cun 
ningham,  their  infamous  jailer,  to  march 
them  out  under  the  cover  of  midnight  dark 
ness,  to  the  gallows  and  the  grave.  "  The 
mode  of  these  private  executions  was  thus 
conducted,"  says  the  miserable  wretch  Cun 
ningham,  in  his  confession,  at  his  own  ex 
ecution  for  crime  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
war :  "  a  guard  was  dispatched  from  the  Pro- 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  9 

vost,  about  half-past  twelve  at  night,  to  the 
Barrack-street  and  the  neighborhood  of  the 
upper  barracks,  to  order  the  people  to  shut 
their  window-shutters  and  put  out  their 
lights,  forbidding  them  at  the  same  time  to 
presume  to  look  out  of  their  windows  and 
doors  on  pain  of  death  ;  after  which  the  un 
fortunate  prisoners  were  conducted,  gagged, 
just  behind  the  upper  barracks,  and  hung 
without  ceremony,  and  buried  by  the  black 
pioneer  of  the  Provost/'  In  this  manner, 
there  were  about  two  hundred  and  sixty 
American  prisoners  murdered  without  cause, 
and  in  violation  of  every  law,  human  and 
Divine. 

While  Cunningham  was  committing  these 
horrid  deeds,  as  a  matter  of  private  specula 
tion  or  revenge,  and  by  the  orders  of  his 
superiors,  other  monsters  were  preparing  the 
instruments  of  destruction  on  this  side  of  the 
river.  The  vessels  which  they  had  previous 
ly  converted  into  prison-ships,  at  Gravesend 
Bay,  were  now  removed  to  the  Hudson  and 
East  Rivers,  where  they  were  anchored  for 


10  BRITISH    PRISON. SHIPS. 

the  same  purposes.  The  soldiers  taken  pris 
oners  on  Long  Island,  and  confined  in  these 
vessels,  were  transferred  to  the  prisons  in 
New-York,  to  make  room  for  the  marine 
prisoners,  now  rapidly  accumulating. 

About  the  20th  day  of  October.  1776,  the 

Whitby,  a  large  transport,  was  removed  to 

the  Whallabocht  Bay,  and  moored  opposite 

Johnson's  "  Rcmsen's  Mill,"  as  shown  on  the  map.     She 

Account. 

was  the  first  prison-ship  moored  in  the  Whal 
labocht,  and  was  crowded  with  prisoners 
when  she  arrived.  Many  prisoners  from  the 
army,  and  citizens  arrested  on  suspicion, 
were  confined  in  her,  which  was  not  the  case 
with  the  other  prison-ships.  The  Whitby 
was  said  to  be  the  most  sickly  of  all  the 
hulks.  While  this  appears  almost  impossible, 
facts  justify  the  assertion.  She  was  the  only 
prison-ship  in  the  Bay  until  May,  1777:  and 
during  two  months  in  the  spring  of  that  year 
the  entire  beach,  between  the  ravine  and 
Remsen's  Dock,  was  filled  with  graves;  and 
before  the  first  day  of  May,  the  ravine  itself 
was  filled  with  the  remains  of  the  hundreds 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  11 

who  died  from  pestilence,  or  were  starved  to 
death  in  this  dreadful  prison. 

In  May,  1777,  two  more  ships  were  an 
chored  in  the  WhallabochU  and  the  prisoners 
of  the  Whitby  were  transferred  to  them  ;  but 
the  same  causes  made  them  almost  as  sickly 
as  their  predecessor.  At  this  time,  no  ex 
changes  took  place,  but  death  made  room 
for  the  daily  arrivals.  On  a  Sunday  after- 
noon,  about  the  middle  of  October,  1777,  one 
of  these  vessels  wras  burnt,  and  many  prison 
ers  perished  in  the  flames.  A  second  was 
consumed  in  February,  1778.  These  were 
succeeded  by  others — the  Good  Hope,  Scor 
pion,  Prince  of  Wales,  John,  Falmouth,  Hun 
ter,  Stromboli,  and  Old  Jersey,  all  of  which 
were  used  in  this  disgraceful  service.  And 
in  them  thousands  of  our  unfortunate  coun 
trymen  suffered  and  died  from  the  inhuman 
treatment  received  from  the  English.  So 
great  was  their  suffering,  that  they  were  in 
duced  to  set  fire  to  the  ships,  which  were 
burnt,  hoping  thus  either  to  secure  their 
liberty,  or  hasten  their  death. 


12  BKITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

"  Better  the  greedy  wave  should  swallow  all, 
Better  to  meet  the  death-conducting  ball, 
Better  to  sleep  on  ocean's  oozy  bed, 
At  once  destroyed  and  numbered  with  the  dead. 
Than  thus  to  perish  in  the  face  of  day, 
Where  twice  ten  thousand  deaths  one  death  delay." 

Freneau. 

While  one  of  these  ships  was  in  flames, 
the  prisoners  were  seen  letting  each  other 
down  from  the  port-holes  and  decks  into  the 
water.  How  many  perished  in  the  hulks  is 
unknown,  except  to  the  All-knowing,  who 
witnessed  their  sufferings,  and  registered 
their  wrongs. 

But  of  all  these  terrible  prison-ships,  the 
OLD  JERSEY,  the  "  HELL,"  as  she  was  called,  was 
the  most  notorious.  She  was  originally  a 

Andros's 

Aacceou8nt> sixty-four  gun-ship,  which  had  become  unfit 
for  actual  service.  After  a  battle  with  the 
French  fleet,  in  which  she  was  much  in 
jured,  she  was  dismantled,  her  spars  and  rig 
ging  removed,  and  her  figure-head  taken  to 
repair  another  ship.  Thus,  without  orna 
ment,  an  old,  unsightly  hulk,  whose  dark  and 
filthy  external  appearance  fitly  represented 
the  death  and  despair  that  reigned  within, 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  13 

she  was  anchored  in  April,  1778,  in  the 
Whallabocht  Bay,  for  the  reception  of  pris 
oners,  and  to  hide  between  her  decks  crimes 
too  horrid  for  the  eye  of  day — crimes  which 
must  forever  remain  a  black  spot  and  a  shame 
on  the  pages  of  English  history. 

For  the  purposes  of  a  prison-ship,  she  was 
stripped  of  every  thing  warlike  ;  and  the  bow 
sprit,  which  was  used  as  a  derrick  for  taking 
in  supplies,  was  all  that  was  left  on  deck. 
Her  port-holes  were  closed  and  fastened,  and 
four  small  holes,  about  twenty  inches  square, 
were  cut  in  her  sides  for  the  admission  of  air. 
These  holes,  about  ten  feet  apart,  were 
secured  by  strong  iron  bars,  crossing  each 
other  at  right  angles.  While  they  "  admit- 
ted  the  light  by  day,  and  served  as  breathing 
holes  at  night,"  their  arrangement  did  not 
permit  a  free  current  of  air  between  decks, 
where  the  prisoners  were  confined  from  sun 
down  to  sun-rise,  having  little  or  no  commu 
nication  with  the  upper  deck  during  these 
dismal  hours. 

Her    position    was    nearly    opposite    the 


14  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

mouth  of  the  old  mill-race,  and  about  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  shore.  South-east 
of  her,  at  the  distances  of  two  and  three 
hundred  yards,  the  Falconer,  Good  Hope, 
and  Hunter,  were  anchored.  These  were 
called  hospital-ships,  but  the  sick  were  sel 
dom  removed  to  them,  until  past  all  hope  of 
recovery,  and  then  it  was  an  aggravation, 

Dnng's 

Narrative.  uo^  a  re]jef?  to  t[le  unfortunate  sufferers.     In 

Johnson's 

Account  fact?  the  idea  of  a  hospital-ship  was  a  mockery; 
for  the  prisoners  were  suffered  to  sicken  and 
die  without  the  least  sympathy  or  attention. 
The  festering  plague-spots,  called  hospital- 
ships,  were  kept  upon  the  Bay  probably  for 
the  sake  of  an  historical  record,  but  certain 
ly  not  for  the  purposes  of  humanity.  The  Old 
Jersey  was  the  receiving  ship  in  this  death- 
recruiting  station,  and  the  hospital-ships 
were  the  places  where  they  were  sowed  up 
in  blankets,  preparatory  to  an  honorable,  but 
not  very  humane,  discharge  from  the  service. 
Sick  or  well,  the  prisoners  were  abandoned 

Andros, 

page  15  to  ljiejr  fate<     During  the  period  of  Andros's 
confinement,  no  English  physician  was  seen 


BEITISH    PKISON-SHIPS.  15 

on  the  hulks  ;  and  others  testify  to  the  same 
cruel  neglect. 

"All  the  most  deadly  diseases  were  pressed 
into  the  service  of  the  king  of  terrors  ;  dys 
entery,  small-pox,  and  yellow-fever,  acting 
as  prime  ministers.  *  *  *  The  whole  ship, 
from  her  keel  to  the  taffrail,  was  equally 
affected,  and  contained  pestilence  sufficient 
to  desolate  a  world  ;  disease  and  death  were 
wrought  into  her  very  timbers." 

The  appearance  of  the  OLD  JERSEY  as  she 
lay  in  the  Whallabocht,  is  graphically  des 
cribed  by  Capt.  Bring.  Leaving  New- York, 
together  with  130  prisoners,  brought  in  by 
the  British  ship  Belisarius,  he  proceeded  to 
the  place  of  their  imprisonment  under  the 
charge  of  the  notorious  David  Sproat,  Com 
missary  of  Prisoners.  "  We  at  length  Dring,g 
doubled  the  Point,"  he  says,  "  and  came  in  P.26.Te' 
view  of  the  Wallabout,  where  lay  before  us 
the  black  hulk  of  the  OLD  JERSEY,  with  her 
satellites,  the  three  hospital  ships,  to  which 
Sproat  pointed  in  an  exulting  manner,  and 
said,  *  There,  REBELS,  there  is  the  CAGE  for 


16  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

you  ! ?  *  *  As  he  spoke,  my  eye  was  in 
stantly  turned  from  the  dreaded  hulk ;  but  a 
single  glance  had  shown  us  a  multitude  of 
human  beings  moving  upon  her  upper  deck. 
It  was  then  nearly  sun-set,  and  before  we 
were  alongside,  every  man,  except  the  senti 
nels  on  the  gangway,  had  disappeared.  Pre 
vious  to  their  being  sent  below,  some  of  the 
prisoners,  seeing  us  approaching,  waved  their 
hats,  as  if  they  would  say,  approach  us  not ; 
and  we  soon  found  fearful  reason  for  the 
warning."  While  waiting  along-side  for  or 
ders,  some  of  the  prisoners  addressed  them 
through  the  air-holes,  which  we  have  des 
cribed.  One  of  them  said,  "  that  it  is  a 
lamentable  thing  to  see  so  many  young  men 
in  full  strength,  with  the  flush  of  health  upon 
their  countenances,  about  to  enter  that  in 
fernal  place  of  abode.  Death,  he  said,  had 
no  relish  for  such  skeleton  carcases  as  we 
are  ;  but  he  will  now  have  a  feast  upon  you 
fresh  comers."  The  130  new  comers  were 
registered  and  sent  below;  but  they  could 
not  sleep,  the  intolerable  heat  and  foul  air 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  17 

was  too  much  for  endurance.  They  sought 
the  air-holes,  but  these  were  occupied;  and 
the  law  of  self-preservation  appeared  to 
justify  the  parties  in  keeping  possession. 
The  crowded  condition  of  the  hulk  prevented 
them  from  moving  about,  so  that  they  were 
forced  to  sit  down  half  suffocated  and  wait 
the  coming  of  the  morning.  Thus  they 
passed  the  first  dreadful  night,  with  sorrow 
ful  forebodings  of  the  approaching  day, 
which  was  destined  to  present  new  scenes 
of  wretchedness  and  woe,  in  the  crowd  of 
strange  and  unknown  forms,  with  the  lines 
of  death  and  famine  upon  their  faces. 

"  On  every  side,  dire  objects  met  the  sight, 
And  pallid  forms,  and  murders  of  the  night." 

The  prisoners  \vere  confined  on  the  two 
lower  decks;  the  foreign  prisoners  generally 
in  the  lower  one.  It  appears  that  they  were, 
if  possible,  more  cruelly  treated  than  the 
Americans.  This  cannot  be  accounted  for, 
unless  through  some  local  feeling,  for  it  was 
contrary  to  the  course  generally  pursued  by 
the  English.  A  marked  distinction  was 


18  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

made  between  the  prisoners  confined  at 
Plymouth,  in  England.  The  Americans 
were  treated  with  less  humanity  than  the 
French  and  Spanish,  and  were  allowed  only 
Annual  ^a^  ^ie  quantity  °f  bread  per  day.  Their 
|>etitions  for  relief,  offered  by  Mr.  Fox,  in 


the  House  of  Commons,  and  by  the  Duke 
of  Richmond,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  were 
treated  with  contempt  ;  while  the  French 
and  Spanish  had  few  or  no  complaints  to 
make.  But  in  the  OLD  JEESEY,  they  were 
covered  with  rags  and  dirt,  and  appeared  to  be 
past  all  feeling  or  expectation  of  escape. 
Broken,  crushed  by  the  iron  heel  of  despo 
tism,  —  neglected,  forgotten,  they  had  no 
hope  to  cheer  them. 

There  are  few  who  could  have  avoid 
ed  similar  feelings  of  indifference  to  life, 
under  such  appalling  circumstances.  It 
was  almost  foolish  to  look  forward  for 
relief,  or  escape.  If  they  succeeded  in 
scaling  the  barricade  which  surrounded 
the  deck,  they  only  exposed  themselves 
to  the  deadly  fire  of  the  guards,  or  to 
the  risk  of  being  cut  to  pieces  before  rfeach- 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  19 

ing  the  shore.  Many  poor  fellows  tried  this 
experiment,  and  paid  the  forfeiture  of  their 
lives  in  the  attempt. 

The  guards  were  forbidden,  under  pain  of 
severe  punishment,  to  relieve  the  wants  of 
the  distressed  ;  and,  in  this  particular,  dis 
obedience  was  never  known.  Their's  was 
the  law  of  the  Medes  and  the  Persians, 
which  knew  no  change,  and  admitted  no 
appeal. 

The  petitions  of  the  suffering  and  sick 
were  frequently  answered  with  the  foot  or 
the  bayonet.  William  Burke,  from  New 
port,  Delaware,  says,  that  he  was  confined 
in  the  Old  Jersey  fourteen  months,  and  that 
he  saw,  among  other  cruelties,  many  Ameri 
can  prisoners  put  to  death  by  the  bayonet. 
This  cruel  treatment  was  never  in  the  least 
relaxed  by  the  English  or  Scotch ;  but,  some 
times,  the  more  humane  Hessians  evinced 
pity  for  the  unfortunate  sufferers.  During 
the  hot  weather,  the  prisoners  were  admit-  Hist  of  the 

Martyrs. 

ted,  one  at  a  time,  on  deck  through  the  night.    p  8 
When  this  great  privilege  was  granted,  they 


20  BRITISH   PRISON-SHIPS. 

assembled  in  a  crowd  around  the  grate  at 
the  hatchway,  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
fresh  air,  and  to  take  their  turn  to  go  on 
deck.  Frequently,  when  this  was  the  case, 
the  sentinels  would  thrust  their  bayonets 
down  among  them  with  the  most  wanton 
cruelty.  Twenty-five  were  thus  butchered 
in  one  night.  Other  witnesses  speak  of 
four,  six,  eight,  and  ten  victims  thus  mur- 
s  dered  at  different  times.  The  suffering  from 

Account, 

p  u  thirst  during  the  hot  nights  was  intense,  but 
it  was  extremely  dangerous  to  approach  the 
port-hole  to  ascend  for  water.  "  Provoked 
by  the  continual  cry  for  leave  to  ascend, 
when  there  was  already  one  on  deck,  the 
sentry  would  push  them  back  with  the 
bayonet."  By  one  of  those  thrusts,  which 
was  more  spiteful  and  violent  than  common, 
Andros  barely  escaped  with  his  life. 

On  the  4th  day  of  July,  1782,  the  prison 
ers  suffered  the  most  brutal  treatment,  be 
cause    they    presumed    to     remember    the 
Dring's  birth-day  of  our  Independence.     Their  little 
banners  were  torn  down  and  trampled  under 


BRITISH   PRISON. SHIPS.  21 

foot  by  the  guard  ;  and,  for  the  crime  of  sing 
ing  a  few  patriotic  songs,  they  were  driven,  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet,  below  deck,  long 
before  the  usual  hour.      Such  music  had  no 
charms  for  the  Scotch  guard  on  duty.     The 
spirit  of  liberty  found  no  response  in  their 
breasts.     The  heroes  and  heroism  of  their 
native  Highlands  had  been  forgotten  in  the 
trade  of  war.     The  voice  of  suffering,  and 
the  eloquence  of  death,  made  no  impression 
on  their  hardened  hearts.     After  they  had 
been  sent  below,  and  the  hatches  were  clos 
ed,  the   prisoners  thought  that  they  might, 
without  giving  further  offence,  cheer  each 
other  up  by  a  few  songs  of  affection  for  their 
bleeding  country.     But  this  privilege  was  re 
fused  them ;   and  because   they  did  not   in 
stantly  heed  that  refusal,  the  guards  went 
down    among   them,   with  lanterns   in   one 
hand  and  cutlasses  in  the  other,  and,  driving 
the  crowd  of  defenceless  victims  before- them, 
they  cut  and  wounded  all  within  their  reach. 
Then,  to  gratify  their  hellish  feelings,  they 
closed  the   hatches   and   left   the    wounded 


22  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

and  dying,  in  darkness,  without  the  least 
means  of  dressing  their  wounds,  or  stopping 
the  flow  of  blood.  Still  further  to  aggra 
vate  the  sufferings  of  this  dreadful  night,  the 
poor  allowance  of  food  and  water  was  denied, 
and  their  dying  petitions  were  mocked  by 
those  cruel  monsters.  Ten  mangled  and 
lifeless  bodies  were  turned  out  in  the  morn 
ing,  a  most  gratifying  evidence  to  the  guards, 
that  their  brave  attack  upon  the  unarmed 
and  the  sick,  had  been  successful. 

This  act  of  fiendish  brutality  was  equalled, 

if  not  surpassed,  by  the  commander  of  the 

Stromboli.     The  treatment  of  the  prisoners 

on  this  ship  was  so  intolerable  that  it  pro- 

Taibofsduced  a  revolt,  in  which  many  of  the  pris- 

Life. 

oners  were  either  killed  or  wounded.  But 
order  was  soon  restored,  and  the  dead  and 
dying  were  thrown  upon  deck.  One  poor 
fellow,  lying  almost  exhausted  by  a  mortal 
wound,  begged  of  the  Captain,  "for  God's 
sake  to  give  him  a  little  water,  for  he  was 
dying."  The  brave  officer,  placing  a  light 
before  him,  exclaimed  :  "  What !  is  it  you — 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  23 

damn  you  !  take  that,  you  damn'd  rebel  ras 
cal,"  and  dashed  his  foot  into  the  face  of  the 
dying  man  !  And  he  took  it,  and,  dying,  bore 
this  insult  to  humanity,  fresh  to  the  throne 
of  a  just  and  an  avenging  God. 

During  the  imprisonment  of  Talbot,  there 
were  eleven  hundred  prisoners  in  the  Jersey, 
which  was  the  number  usually  confined  in 
her,  without  berths  to  lie  down  on,  or 
benches  to  sit  upon,  and  many  of  them  were 
almost  naked.  The  allowance  of  clothing 
was  scanty,  and  its  quality  outrageous,  and 
the  conduct  of  the  guards  as  brutal  as  it 
was  possible  for  it  to  be  ;  while  dysentery, 
fever,  small-pox,  and  the  recklessness  of  de 
spair,  filled  the  hulk  with  filth  of  the  most 
disgusting  character.  In  such  a  place,  the 
mingled  sick,  and  dying,  and  dead,  presented 
a  scene  too  horrible  to  contemplate,  and 
from  which  the  coldest  heart  must  have 
turned  away. 

But  every  spark  of  humanity  had  fled 
from  the  breasts  of  their  guards.  The  only 
sympathy  ever  received,  was  from  the  Hes- 


24  BRITISH   PRISON. SHIPS. 

sians  when  they  were  on  duty,  and  that  was 
but  little.  The  English  and  Scotch  seemed 
to  vie  with  each  other  in  their  refined  cruel 
ty,  and  were  as  little  moved  by  these  scenes 
of  suffering  and  death,  as  the  ship's  timbers 
which  surrounded  the  prisoners,  or  the 
bayonets  by  which  they  were  so  unneces 
sarily  wounded* 

"  At  every  post  some  surly  vagrant  stands, 
Cull'd  from  the  English  or  the  Scottish  bands, 
Dispensing  death." 

old  Jersey      "  The  lower  hold  and  the  orlop  deck  were 

Captive. 

p  l  such  a  terror,  that  no  man  would  venture 
down  into  them.  Humanity  would  have 
dictated  a  more  merciful  treatment  to  a 
band  of  pirates,  who  had  been  condemned 
and  were  only  awaiting  the  gibbet,  than  to 
have  sent  them  here."  But,  in  the  view  of 
the  English,  the  prisoners  were  rebels  and 
traitors.  They  had  risen  against  the  mother 
country  in  an  unjust  and  wanton  civil  war, 
and  were  receiving  the  just  punishment  of 
their  rebellion. 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  25 

In  1782,  when  Alexander  Coffin  was  Bet& 

page  29. 

a  prisoner  on  board  of  the  Old  Jersey,  he 
found  about  eleven  hundred  prisoners  there, 
many  of  whom,  during  the  severity  of  the 
winter,  were  without  clothing  to  keep  them 
warm.  To  remedy  this  difficulty,  they  were 
compelled  to  keep  below,  and  either  get  into 
their  hammocks,  or  walk  the  deck,  which 
was  almost  impossible.  In  this  way,  they 
could  keep  from  freezing,  by  using  great  ef- 
forts,  but  it  was  not  always  done.  We  have 
an  account  of  one  poor  fellow  whose  feet 
and  legs  were  frozen.  Mr.  Sherburne  saw 
the  toes  and  flesh  fall  from  his  feet,  while 
the  nurse  was  dressing  them. 

To  cap  the  climax  of  infamy,  Coffin  says, 
they  fed  the  prisoners  on  putrid  beef  and 
pork,  and  worm-eaten  bread,  which  had  been 
condemned  on  their  ships  of  war.  It  was 
full  of  vermin,  but  they  had  to  eat  it,  worms 

Jersey 

and  all,  or  starve.  On  the  upper  gun-deck, 
hogs  were  kept  in  pens  for  the  use  of  the 
officers.  When  they  were  fed  with  bran, 
the  prisoners  would  steal  it  from  the  trough, 


26  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

and,  after  boiling  it,  would  eat  it  with  as  good 
an  appetite  as  the  hogs  themselves. 

They  were  sometimes  denied  the  use  of 
fire,  for  several  days  in  succession,  and  were 
thus  compelled  to  eat  their  meat  raw.  When 
fire  was  allowed,  it  was  confined  to  a  large 
copper  boiler,  which  had  been  corroded  by 
the  use  of  salt  water.  Into  this  poisonous 
place,  they  were  compelled  to  put  their  meat, 
and  to  take  it  out  again  at  a  particular  time, 
whether  cooked  or  not.  To  the  use  of  this 
corroded  boiler,  and  the  filthy  bilge-water 
which  they  drank  in  the  absence  of  better, 
Capt.  Bring  attributed  much  of  their  sick 
ness.  Light  was  not  permitted  at  night, 
and  the  hulk  was  so  crowded,  that  the  pris 
oners  could  not  move  without  treading  upon 
each  other.  Their  rest  was  broken  by  the 
groans  of  the  sick  and  dying,  and  by  the 
curses  poured  out  upon  their  inhuman  keep 
ers  by  those  who  had  been  driven  into  deli 
rium  by  the  suffocating  heat  and  poisoned 
air.  The  dying,  in  their  last  convulsive 
agonies,  frequently  threw  themselves  across 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  27 

their  sick  companions  ;  and,  as  the  sick  were 
unable  to  remove  the  lifeless  bodies,  they 
were  compelled  to  wait  until  morning,  with 
their  comrades  stretched  upon  their  own  ex 
hausted  frames. 

Andrew  Sherburne  was  removed  from  the 


Memoirs, 

Old  Jersey  to  the  hospital-ship  Weymouth,  Page118 
where  he  found  the  brothers,  John  and  Abra 
ham  Fall.    The  Falls  were  lying  sick  on  the 
same  cot,  not  far  from  the  one  he  occupied, 
but  they  were  not  able  to  visit  each  other. 

The  sick  in  the  hospital-ships  were  too  feeble 

' 

to  help  themselves,  and  the  nurses  took  more 
interest  in  their  death,  than  they  did  in  re 
lieving  their  wants.  Their  clothing  and 
blankets,  however  poor,  were  a  sufficient  re 
ward  for  their  neglect,  and  generally  over 
came  their  feelings  of  humanity.  When 
present,  they  spent  their  time  in  playing 
cards,  while  the  suffering  prisoners  were  im 
ploring  them  for  water,  or  some  other  little 
attention.  But,  generally,  they  were  out  of 
the  way,  and  left  the  sick  to  take  care  of  them 
selves.  One  night,  when  thus  left  alone, 


28  BRITISH    PRISON. SHIPS. 

Abraham  Fall  plead  with  his  brother  John 
to  get  off  from  him;  and  the  sick  around  swore 
at  John  for  his  cruelty  in  lying  on  his 
brother  ;  but  John  made  no  reply,  he  was 
deaf  to  the  cries  of  his  brother,  and  beyond 
the  curses  of  the  suffering  crowd.  In  the 
morning,  he  was  found  dead  ;  and  his  brother 
Abraham,  whose  exhausted  strength  had 
given  way  under  the  pressure  of  the  corpse, 
was  in  a  dying  state.  The  sick  were  unable 
to  relieve  them,  and  the  nurses  were  not 
there. 

Captain  Bring  describes  the  case  of  a  poor 
boy,  only  twelve  years  old,  confined  with  him 
on  the  Old  Jersey.  The  little  fellow  had 
been  inoculated  for  the  small-pox,  which 
disease  the  English  had  adopted  as  an  ally 
in  their  humane  care  of  the  prisoners. 
"The  boy  was  a  member  of  the  same  mess 
with  myself,"  Bring  says,  "  and  had  always 
looked  upon  me  as  a  protector,  and  particu 
larly  so  during  his  sickness.  The  night  of 
his  death  was  truly  a  wretched  one  to  me  ; 
for  I  spent  almost  the  whole  of  it  in  perfect 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  29 

darkness,  holding  him  during  his  convulsions  ; 
and  it  was  heart-rending  to  hear  the  screams 
of  the  dying  boy,  while  calling  and  imploring, 
in  his  delirium,  for  the  assistance  of  his 
mother  and  other  members  of  his  family! 
For  a  long  time,  all  persuasion  or  argument 
was  useless  to  silence  his  groans  and  suppli 
cations.  But  exhausted  nature,  at  length, 
sunk  under  its  agonies  ;  his  screams  became 
less  piercing,  and  his  struggles  less  violent. 
In  the  midnight  gloom  of  our  dungeon,!  could 
not  see  him  die,  but  knew,  by  placing  my 
hand  over  his  mouth,  that  hisbreathings  were 
becoming  shorter;  and  thus  felt  the  last 
breath  as  it  quitted  his  frame.  The  first 
glimmer  of  morning  light  through  the  iron 
grate  fell  upon  his  pallid  and  lifeless  corpse." 
This  was  the  end,  the  result  contemplated, 
by  the  British  in  their  brutal  conduct.  Noth 
ing  was  left  untried  that  could  injure  or  de 
stroy.  They  warred  on  decrepid  old  age  —  Gov  Liv 
on  defenceless  youth.  They  committed  hos- 


.  N.J.,  1777 

tilities  against  professors  of  literature  and  the 
ministers  of  religion  —  against  public  records 


30  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

and  private  manuscripts,  books  of  improve 
ment,  and  papers  of  curiosity.  They  butch 
ered  the  wounded,  asking  for  quarter ; 
mangled  the  dead,  weltering  in  their  blood, 
and  refused  them  the  rites  of  sepulture ; 
suffered  prisoners  to  perish  for  want  of  sus 
tenance  ;  insulted  the  persons  of  females  ; 
and,  in  their  barbarism,  profaned  edifices 
dedicated  to  Almighty  God. 

The  wife  of  a  dying  prisoner  was  not 
permitted  to  see  him  expire  ;  and  because 
she  wept  in  her  distress,  the  infamous  Cun 
ningham  had  her  stripped  and  unmercifully 
punished.  But,  Cunningham  and  David 
Sproat  were  not  the  only  monsters  in  the 
British  service.  A  sailor,  more  humane  than 
his  Royal  Captain  who  wore  the  insignia 
of  British  military  honor,  discovering  that 
Gavot,  of  Rhode  Island,  who  had  been 
sewed  up  in  his  hammock,  and  thrown  out 
among  the  dead,  was  still  living,  called  the 
attention  of  his  commander  to  the  fact. 
The  courageous  and  humane  captain  repli 
ed,  "  In  with  him  ;  if  he  is  not  dead,  he  soon 


BRITISH   PRISON-SHIPS.  31 

will  be."  But,  honor  to  the  noble  tar,  he 
refused  to  bury  the  living,  and  with  his  knife 
ripped  open  the  hammock,  and  loosed  him 
from  the  shackles  of  the  grave.  Let  the 
name  of  that  commander  be  ascertained  and 
erased  from  the  roll  of  humanity*  As  he 
was  destitute  of  all  principle  and  feeling,  let 
him  be  no  longer  called — Man. 

At  sun-down,  the  prisoners  were  ordered 
below  deck.  "Down,  rebels,  down,"  was  the 
elegant  language  of  their  guards ;  and  in 
the  morning,  after  the  sufferings  of  the  night, 
its  long,  anxious  and  painful  watches,  its 
untold  agonies,  and  unnumbered  deaths,  the 
"Rebels"  were  commanded,  in  tones  of  de 
rision,  to  "turn  out  their  dead."  And  the 
dead  were  turned  out  from  the  living,  mo 
tion,  not  appearance,  frequently  determining 
the  selection,  and  were  sewed  up  in  their 
blankets,  and  carried  by  their  companions, 
under  a  guard,  to  the  shore,  and  there  hastily 
buried.  This  was  done  so  carelessly  and 
hastily,  that  each  succeeding  tide  washed 
out  some  of  their  remains.  The  corpses 


32  BRITISH   PRISON. SHIPS. 

Were  laid  in  the  trenches  without  ceremony, 

Narrative, 

p  7  and  the  sand  hastily  and  thinly  thrown  over 
them,  while  the  remains  of  those  previously 
interred  with  the  same  mockery,  were  ex 
posed  to  view.  More  than  half  of  the  dead 
buried  on  the  outer  side  of  the  mill-pond, 
were  washed  out  by  the  waves  at  high  tide, 
and  their  bones  were  exposed  along  the 
beach,  bleaching  in  the  sun  and  whitening 
the  shore.  The  whole  shore,  from  Rennie's 
Johnson's  Point  to  Remsen's  door-yard,  and  from  his 

Recollec- 

tions-  barn  to  Rapelje's  farm,  and  the  slopes  of 
the  hill,  and  the  sand  island,  between  the 
flood-gates  and  the  mill-dam,  were  filled  with 
the  remains  of  these  martyrs. 

Thus  were  thousands  of  our  countrymen 
inhumanly  and  cowardly  murdered.  It  is 
believed  that  not  less  than  eleven  thousand 
perished  in  the  Old  Jersey  alone.  How 
many  were  added  to  this  number  from  the 
other  ships,  God  only  knows !  The  story  is 
too  dreadful  to  dwell  upon.  Were  it  not 
for  the  undoubted  evidence  of  witnesses  but 
recently  deceased,  and  of  historians,  who 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  33 

suffered  in  the  hulks,  "  which  things  they 
saw,  and  of  them  were  a  part,"  and  wrote 
from  their  own  painful  recollections  and  the 
monument  of  mouldering  bones  which  lie 

I  O 

here,  cherished  by  us  as  the  sacred  "  relics 
of  freedom's  martyrs,"  we  might  doubt  the 
facts.     JMay,  it  would  be  natural  for   us  to 
hesitate  to  believe  that  our  enemies  were  so 
unmanly  and  brutal.     Without  all  this  evi 
dence,    we    would     not    be    authorized    to 
blacken  the  pages  of  the  history  of  one  of 
the   most  enlightened  nations   of  the  earth, 
with   crimes,   which,  to  relate   in   common 
terms,  are  sufficient  to  crimson  the  cheeks 
of  her   people   for   ages   to   come.     In    the 
language  of  one  of  our  own  noble  officers, 
God  grant   that   the  record  of  such  crimes 
may  be  opened   up  in   heaven   against  our 
enemies,  and  not  against  us ! 

The  knowledge  of  these  things  was  not 
confined  to  the  petty  officers  and  guards ; 
their  superiors  knew  it ;  and  the  ministers  Debate 

in  Parlia- 

of  the  English  Government  had  knowledge  menton 
of  them.     They   were   not    the    results    of 

3 


Mr.  Fox's 
motion. 


34  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

circumstances,  nor  the  fruits  of  temporary 
passion.  Their  cruelty  was  a  part  of  their 
policy,  deliberately  and  remorselessly  pur 
sued.  This  was  the  just  punishment  of  their 
rebellion,  the  patriots  were  told,  and  it  was 
better  than  they  deserved.  You  deserve  to 
be  hanged,  Gen.  Howe  said,  to  Lieut.  Duns- 
Thatcher,scomb  and  his  fellow  prisoners,  for  your  re- 
bellion ;  and  you  shall  all  be  hanged! 
"  Hang,  and  be  d — d,"  was  Dunscomb's 
reply. 

General  Washington  remonstrated  against 
their  cruel  treatment,  in  a  letter  to  Admiral 
Digby,  which  was  filled  with  the  most  touch 
ing  and  noble  sentiments.  "  If  the  fortune 
of  war,  sir,  has  thrown  a  number  of  these 
miserable  people  into  your  hands,  I  am  cer 
tain  your  excellency's  feelings  for  the  men 
must  induce  you  to  proportion  the  ships,  (if 
they  must  be  confined  on  board  ships,)  to 
their  accommodation  and  comfort,  and  not, 
by  crowding  them  together  in  a  few  ships, 
bring  on  diseases  which  consign  them  by  the 
half-dozen  in  a  day  to  the  grave." 


BRITISH   PRISON-SHIPS.  35 

Before  this,  on  the   13th  day  of  January, 
1777,  he  wrote   in  the   following  terms  to 
Howe :    "  I   am  sorry  that   I  am   under  the 
disagreeable  necessity  to  trouble  your  Lord 
ship  with  a  letter,  almost  wholly  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  cruel  treatment  which  our  officers 
and  men,  in  the  naval  department,  who  are 
unhappy  enough  to  fall  into  your  hands,  re 
ceive  on  board  the  prison-ships  in  the  harbour 
of  New- York.     Without  descending  to  par 
ticulars,  I  shall  ground  my  complaint  upon 
the  matter  contained  in  the  enclosed  paper, 
which  is  an  exact  copy  of  an  account  of  the 
usage  of  the  prisoners,  delivered  to  Congress 
by  one    Captain   Gamble,  lately  a  prisoner 
himself  in   New- York.     If  this  account  be 
true,  of  which  I   have   no   reason  to  doubt, 
as  Captain  Gamble  is  said   to  be  a  man  of 
veracity,  I  call  upon  your  Lordship  to  say, 
whether  any  treatment  of  your  officers  and 
seamen    has  merited  so  severe  a  retaliation. 
I  am  bold  to  say,  it  has  not.     *  *  *  *     And 
I  hope  upon  making  the  proper  inquiry,  you 
will  have  the  matter  so  regulated,  that  the 


36  BRITISH   PRISON-SHIPS. 

unhappy  persons,  in  captivity,  may  not  in 
the  future  have  the  miseries  of  cold,  disease, 
and  famine,  added  to  their  other  misfortunes. 
You  may  call  us  rebels,  and  say  that  we  de 
serve  no  better  treatment ;  but,  remember, 
my  Lord,  that  supposing  us  rebels,  we  still 
have  feelings  equally  as  keen  and  sensible  as 
loyalists,  and  will,  if  forced  to  it,  most  assur 
edly  retaliate  upon  those,  upon  whom  we 
look  as  the  unjust  invaders  of  our  rights, 
liberties,  and  properties.  I  should  not  have 
said  thus  much  ;  but  my  injured  countrymen 
have  long  called  upon  me  to  endeavor  to 
obtain  redress  of  their  grievances;  and  I 
should  think  myself  as  culpable  as  those  who 
inflict  such  severities  upon  them,  were  I  to 
continue  silent."  And,  again,  he  writes : 
"  Those  who  have  lately  been  sent  out,  give 
the  most  shocking  account  of  their  barba 
rous  usage,  which  their  miserable,  emaciated 
countenances  confirm.  *  *  *  I  would 
beg,  that  some  certain  rule  of  conduct  to 
wards  prisoners  may  be  settled ;  and,  if  you 
are  determined  to  make  captivity  as  distress- 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  37 

ing  as  possible,  let  me  know  it,  that  we  may 
be  upon  equal  terms,  for  your  conduct  must 
and  shall  regulate  mine.'7  In  closing  this 
letter  he  says,  "  Most  of  the  prisoners  who 
have  returned  home,  (this  was  by  an  ex 
change  which  had  been  agreed  upon,)  have 
informed  me,  that  they  were  offered  better 
treatment,  provided  they  would  enlist  into 
your  service.  This,  I  believe,  is  unprece 
dented,  and,  if  true,  makes  it  still  more  un 
necessary  for  me  to  apologize  for  the  freedom 
of  expression  which  I  have  used  through 
out  this  letter." 

In  1782,  Commissioner  Skinner  wrote  to 
the  infamous  Sproat.  After  charging  him 
with  the  basest  falsehoods,  he  says,  "  I  was 
refused  permission  to  visit  the  prison-ships, 
for  which  I  can  conceive  no  other  reason 
than  your  being  ashamed  to  have  these 
graves  of  our  seamen  seen  by  one  who  dar 
ed  to  represent  the  horrors  uf  them  to  his 
countrymen." 

During  all  this  time,  every  attempt  to  re 
lieve  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners,  either 


38  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

by  their  friends  or  on  the  part  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  was  ingeniously  defeated.  If  money 
or  supplies  was  sent,  they  were  appropriated 
by  their  jailors.  If  an  exchange  was  agreed 

Washing-  , 

on  s  Pro- upon,  the  prisoners  were  not   sent  out,  until 

test  to 

Howe  they  [la(j  been  reduced  to  skeletons  by  star 
vation  and  disease.  Thus,  rendered  unfit 
for  future  service,  they  returned,  many  of 
them  only  to  find  graves  at  home. 

And  in  order  to  increase  their  misery,  and 
drive  them  to  desperation,  the  prisoners  were 
told  by  the  English  officers,  that  they  were 
neglected  by  their  Government — that  ex 
change,  except  in  a  few  instances,  was  re 
fused;  and  that  their  sufferings  resulted  from 
their  own  stubbornness;  and,  if  they  persist 
ed  in  it,  they  should  suffer  and  die  in  their 
filth.  This  stubbornness,  which  so  much 
excited  the  English,  was  evinced  in  their 
refusal  to  enlist  in  the  service  of  the  king, 
against  their  own  country.  If  they  would 
commit  this  vile  act,  they  were  informed  that 
they  could  avoid  the  torture  of  the  prison- 
ships,  the  insults,  and  starvation,  and  sick- 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  39 

» 

ness,  and  all  the   stages  of  their   slow  but 
certain  death.     "You  are  treated  too 


p.  76. 

for  rebels;  you  have  not  received  half  you 
deserve,  and  half  you  shall  receive  ;  but  if 
you  will  enlist  in  His  Majesty's  service,  you 
shall  have  victuals  and  clothing  enough." 
This  was  the  language  used  to  our  unfortu 
nate  seamen  and  soldiers.  And  to  prove 
the  assertion  that  there  was  still  worse  treat 
ment  in  reserve  for  them,  they  put  four  of 
our  wounded  officers  into  a  dirt  cart,  and 
drove  them  through  the  City  of  New-  York, 
"  as  objects  of  derision,  reviled  as  rebels,  and 
treated  with  the  utmost  contempt  ;"  while 
some  were  seated  upon  coffins,  with  ropes 
around  their  necks,  and  driven  to  the  gal 
lows,  where  they  were  derided  and  abused, 
and  then  driven  back  to  prison.  The  British  Fa/ressfd" 
officer,  Fraser,  told  others,  if  they  did  not 
join  the  English  army,  they  should  go  to  the 
dungeons  and  prison-ships,  to  perish  and  to 
rot,  and  their  wives  and  children  should  be 
forced  to  starve  in  the  public  streets,  and  to 
curse  them  as  the  authors  of  their  miserable 


40  BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

fate.  In  this  instance,  the  souls  of  the 
listening  heroes  were  touched,  and  they 
momentarily  trembled  under  the  terrible 
sentence ;  but  love  of  country  triumphed 
over  love  of  family,  and,  as  if  moved  by  one 
impulse,  this  glorious  band  of  patriots  thun 
dered  in  the  astonished  ears  of  their  perse 
cutors,  "  the  prison-ships  and  death,  or 
Washington  and  our  country."  Death,  or 
the  British  service  were  the  only  alterna 
tives  ;  and  the  former,  in  almost  every  in 
stance,  was  preferred.  Coffin,  and  Bring, 
and  others  who  suffered  with  them,  say  that 
the  prisoners  resolved  to  bear  everything 
that  their  enemies  might  inflict,  but  never 
to  desert  their  country  for  a  service  which 
their  hearts  detested. 

It  was  this  forced  enlistment,  that  Wash 
ington  characterized  as  "unprecedented," 
and  he  might  have  added,  "a  violation  of  the 
laws  of  nations."  But  it  was  as  useless  as 
it  was  contemptible.  With  an  eye  of  proud 
disdain,  and  souls  burning  with  the  eternal 
fire  of  liberty,  the  prisoners  spurned  the  in- 


BRITISH    PRISON. SHIPS.  41 

suiting    offer,    as    the    reward    of    treason. 

"  Our  country's  liberty  is  dear  to  our 

they  could  say,  "it  deserves  a  mighty 

fice  ;    let  it   be   free,  and  our  blood  shall  be  page 

avenged  ;  it  is  for  this  we  suffer,  and  for  it  we 

are  willing  to  die." 

"  Bodies  fall  by  wild  sword-law  ; 

But  who  would  force  the  Soul,  tilts  with  a  straw 
Against  a  Champion  cased  in  adamant." 

This  was  the  true  nobility  of  patriotism — 
the  mighty  spirit  of  liberty  triumphing  over 
death — calm,  resolute,  unconquerable  brave 
ry,  defying  torture,  and  starvation,  and  loath 
some  disease,  and  the  prospect  of  a  neglected 
and  forgotten  grave.  There  was  no  pros 
pect  of  glory  to  sustain  them  in  their  fearful 
trials — no  excitement  of  battle,  in  which 
they  might  forget  their  danger  and  earn  their 
death.  Such  men  could  not  be  conquered. 
Taken,  imprisoned  they  might  be;  but  con 
quered,  never.  Wounded,  neglected,  starved, 
hurled  without  mercy  into  these  nauseous 
tombs  of  living  victims,  to  die  unhonored  and 
unknown  ;  and  to  be  thrown  upon  the  sand- 


42  BEITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

banks,  a  horrid  repast  for  the  birds  of 
prey, — this,  all  this  they  saw,  and  felt  to  be 
impending ;  but,  with  prophetic  eyes  they 
also  saw,  beyond  and  above  their  individual 
sufferings,  the  image  of  their  country's  liber 
ty  rising  triumphantly  above  their  graves. 
Death  might  seal  their  career,  but  victory 
would  crown  their  standard  with  eternal 
freedom.  For  this  they  had  fought,  and  for 
it  they  were  ready  to  die.  Like  the  accom 
plished,  the  noble-hearted,  and  self-sacrificing 

Washing- 

t™?*-  Hale,  whose  life  was  so  freely  offered,  and 
PIge°549.  who  lamented  only,  that  he  had  but  one  life 
to  lose  for  his  country,  they  had  considered 
their  position, — had  weighed  the  objects  of 
the  Revolution  against  the  perils  it  involved, 
and  were  ready  to  meet  its  results  ;  if  not 
on  the  field  of  battle  in  deadly  conflict, 
cheered  by  the  shouts  of  victory  ;  then  and 
there,  and  in  any  way,  so  the  principles  of 
self-government  were  established,  and  the 
arm  of  tyranny  was  paralyzed. 

Pericles,  in  his  eloquent  oration  over  the 
bones  of  the  Grecian  heroes,  said,  the  misery 


BRITISH    PRISON-SHIPS.  43 

which  accompanies  cowardice  is  far  more 
grievous  to  a  man  of  high  spirit,  than  the 
unfelt  death  which  comes  upon  him  at  once, 
in  the  time  of  his  strength  and  of  his  hope 
for  the  common  welfare.  But  these,  our 
countrymen,  died  amidst  starvation  and  pov 
erty,  where  their  strength  was  reduced  by  a 
slow  and  cruel  death,  wasted  by  degrees,  in 
scenes  of  the  most  heart-rending  character. 
If  Grecian  patriots  merited  a  distinguished 
tomb,  and  inscriptive  columns  rearing  their 
lofty  heads  to  heaven,  to  tell  of  their  glory, 
as  well  as  that  unwritten  memorial  of  the 
heart,  which  all  good  men  keep  of  their  fel 
lows  ;  wrhat,  I  ask,  is  due  to  the  unnumbered 
heroes  and  martyrs,  whose  bones  lie  mould 
ering  here,  unhonored  even  by  the  slightest 
memorial ! 

Our  free  institutions — this  great  and  pros 
perous  Republic,  with  its  social,  political  and 
religious  liberties — are  monuments  to  their 
memory  ;  and  God  grant  that  they  may  con 
tinue  so  forever  !  But  here,  on  the  spot 
consecrated  to  liberty  by  the  life  of  the  im- 


44  BKITISH    PRISON-SHIPS. 

mortal  Hale,  and  nurtured  by  the  blood  of 
the  unnumbered  and  unnamed  victims  of 
barbarity,  who  "  died  in  vindication  of  the 
rights  of  man,"  there  is  no  material  Monu 
ment,  the  evidence  of  their  country's  remem 
brance  and  gratitude — no  stone,  bearing 
the  records  of  their  patriotic  devotion  to 
principle,  and  of  their  more  than  heroic 
deaths  ! 


fe^"  On  page  23,  eleventh  line  from  the  top,  in  part  of  the  edition,  clothing-  is 
erroneously  printed  for  the  word /cod. 


APPENDIX, 


THE  Articles  of  the  Association,  referred 
to  in  the  Introduction,  with  their  Preamble, 
are  as  follows,  to  wit : — 

The  Convention  of  Delegates  appointed  by  the  several  Com* 
mittees  in  the  County  of  Kings,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  and 
adopting  the  means  necessary  to  secure  the  erection  of  a  suitable 
Monument  to  the  memory  of  the  prisoners  who  died  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  on  board  the  Prison-Ships  in  the  Wallabout 
Bay,  have  associated,  and  do  ordain  as  follows,  to  wit : — 

ARTICLE  I. 

This  Association  shall  be  called  "  THE  MARTYR  MONUMENT 
ASSOCIATION." 

ARTICLE  II. 

The  object  of  this  Association  is,  to  erect  a  suitable  Monument 
to  the  memory  of  those  who  died  martyrs  to  the  Revolution, 
in  the  British  Prison-Ships  in  the  Wallabout  Bay. 

ARTICLE  III. 

The  affairs,  assets,  property,  and  powers  of  this  Association 
shall  be  managed  and  exercised,  by  a  Board  of  not  less  than 
fifteen,  nor  more  than  twenty-one  Directors,  to  be  chosen  one 


46  APPENDIX. 

from  each  Committee  in  the  County  of  Kings  ;  and  four  at  large, 
to  be  elected  by  the  Delegates  from  said  Committees,  appointed 
for  the  purpose  ;  which  Directors  shall  continue  in  office  for  the 
space  of  one  year,  and  until  their  successors  are  duly  elected  ; 
and,  whenever  a  vacancy  in  the  Board  shall  occur,  they  shall  fill 
the  same  by  electing  a  Director  from  the  Committee  to  which 
the  member  causing  such  vacancy  belonged. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  Board  of  Directors  shall  have  power  to  appoint  a  Presi 
dent,  a  Vice-President,  a  Recording  Secretary,  a  Corresponding 
Secretary,  and  a  Treasurer  from  their  own  number,  to  hold  their 
respective  offices  for  one  year,  or  until  others  are  appointed  in 
their  stead  ;  and  to  appoint  such  other  officers  and  agents  as  from 
time  to  time  may  become  necessary  to  aid  them  in  the  performance 
of  their  trust ;  to  remove  them  at  pleasure  ;  to  prescribe  their  re 
spective  duties ;  and  to  make  such  By- Laws,  Rules  and  Regula 
tions  for  the  government  of  their  own  Board,  the  management  and 
direction  of  their  business,  the  erection,  maintenance,  preserva 
tion,  regulation  and  custody  of  the  said  Monument,  as  they  may, 
from  time  to  time,  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  and  the  said 
Board  shall  take  from  the  Treasurer  a  bond,  with  one  or  more 
sureties,  such  as  shall  be  approved  by  them,  by  resolution  of  said 
Board,  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties ;  and  from 
other  officers  and  agents,  such  security  as  the  said  Board  may 
think  proper. 

ARTICLE  V. 

So  soon  as  the  said  Board  may  deem  it  expedient,  it  shall  be 
competent  to  purchase  or  otherwise  acquire  ground,  and  com 
mence  the  erection  of  the  said  Monument,  and  to  make  contracts 
therefor  :  Provided,  however,  that  no  contract  shall  be  made,  or 
liability  contracted,  for  an  amount  exceeding  the  sum  at  such 


APPENDIX,  47 

time  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer,  and  not  otherwise  ap 
propriated.  And  the  President  of  the  said  Board  is  hereby  desig 
nated  as  the  officer  and  agent  of  the  Association  to  whom  con 
veyances  of  Real  Estate  shall  be  made ;  and  to  hold  the  same  in 
trust,  and  to  convey  the  same,  on  behalf  of  the  Association,  in 
such  manner  and  for  such  purposes  as  the  said  Board  of 
Directors  shall  determine. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

The  Board  of  Directors  shall  cause  all  their  proceedings  to  be 
recorded  in  a  book  to  be  kept  for  that  purpose ;  which  Book 
shall  be  open,  at  all  reasonable  hours,  for  the  inspection  of  all 
members  of  Committees  in  good  standing,  who  may  have  contri 
buted  to  the  funds  or  property  of  the  Association. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  election  of  the  first  Board  of  Directors  shall  be  held  im 
mediately  after  the  adoption  of  these  Articles  of  Association  by 
the  Delegates  now  convened  ;  and  the  Directors  for  every  sub 
sequent  Board  shall  be  elected  by  the  respective  Committees, 
(one  from  each  Committee})  within  the  week  preceding  the  Mon 
day  following  the  first  Tuesday  in  September  of  each  year ;  which 
Directors  shall  convene  as  soon  thereafter  as  practicable,  and 
elect  so  many  Directors  at  large  as  shall  make  and  constitute 
the  full  number  of  twenty-one  Directors. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

No  amendment  to  this  Constitution  shall  be  made,  unless  pro 
posed  by  a  majority  of  the  Board  of  Directors  ;  nor  unless  notice 
of  such  proposed  amendment  shall  have  been  given  at  least  one 
meeting  previous  to  being  adopted,  and  been  ratified  by  a  ma 
jority  of  a  Convention  held  for  that  purpose,  consisting  of  three 
Delegates  from  each  Committee  in  King's  County. 


48  APPENDIX. 


In  conformity  with  the  foregoing  Articles, 
the  following  are  Directors  and  Officers : 

$0arb  flf  J 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS,  HENRY  W.  MAHAN, 

JAMES  R.  BURTON,  ROBERT  C.  MORRIS, 

RUFUS  R.  BELKNAP,  WM.  H.  RICHARDS, 

M.  P.  COONS,  HENRY  C.  ROSSITER, 

WM.  T.  ELMENDORF,  THOMAS  STAGEY, 

WM.  L.  ELY,  ISAAC  H.  SMITH, 

H.  B.  FENTON,  S.  G.  STRIKER, 

WM.  B.  HOWARD,  GEORGE  TAYLOR, 

J.  B.  KIERSTED,  FRED.  W.  WALKER, 

JAMES  LEINE,  E.  J.  WHITLOCK, 
JAMES  G.  WILLIAMSON. 


(Dffirm. 

GEORGE  TAYLOR,  President ;  No.  7  Broad-street,  N.  Y. 
JAMES  R.  BURTON,  Vice-Pres.  ;  Adelphist.,  c.  Myrtle  Av.,  Brooklyn. 
FRED.  W.  WALKER,  Rec.  Sec'y  ;  (Office)  247  Broadway,  N.  Y. ;  or 
Cor.  Sec'y  ;  (House)  90  WasVn-st.,  Brooklyn. 
E.  J.  WHITLOCK, -Treasurer;  No.  39  Nassau-street,  N.  Y. 


finmt  (tnmntittn. 

ISAAC  H.  SMITH,  No.  157  Pearl-street,  N.  Y. 
WM.  H.  RICHARDS,  No.  45  Barclay-st.,     " 
ROBERT  C.  MORRIS,  No.  113  Broadway,    " 


The  Board  of  Directors,  pursuant  to 
the  Articles  of  Association^  have  adopted, 
for  their  government,  the  following 

BY-LAWS. 


I. 
A  STATED  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  shall  be  Meetings; 

when  and 

held  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  September  of  each  year;where 
and  on  the  second  Monday  of  every  month  during  the 
year,  at  such  hour  as  the  Board  shall  from  time  to  time 
determine.  Occasional  meetings  may  be  held  at  any  time, 
at  the  call  of  the  President,  or  request  of  any  three  mem 
bers  of  the  Board. 

II. 
At  all  meetings  of  the  Directors,  the  President  shall  pre-  Presiding 

officer. 

side,  if  he  be  present ;  but,  if  he  be  absent,  the  chair  shall 
be  taken  by  the  Vice-President.  If  neither '  of  those 
officers  be  present,  a  Chairman,  pro  tempore,  shall  be  ap 
pointed  from  the  Directors  present. 

III. 

Twelve  Directors    shall    constitute  a   quorum  for  the  Quorum- 
transaction  of  ordinary  business  ;  the  decision  of  a  majority 

4 


50  BY-LAWS. 

of  whom,  duly  assembled,  shall  be  valid ;  but  a  vote  of  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Directors,  for  the  time 
being,  shall  be  necessary  to  elect  a  Director  to  fill  a  va 
cancy  in  the  Board. 

IV. 

order  of          The  Order  of  Business  shall  be  as  follows  : 

Business. 

1.  Calling  the  Roll  of  Members. 

2.  Reading  and  approval  of  Minutes. 

3.  Communications  from  the  President. 

4.  Do.  do.       Corresponding  Secretary. 

5.  Report  of  Recording  Secretary. 

6.  Do.      Treasurer. 

7.  Do.       Finance  Committee. 

8.  Do.       Building          « 

9.  Reports  of  Special  Committees. 
10.  Miscellaneous  Business. 

V. 

be0in°wTit°  No  m°ti°n  snall  De  considered  as  before  the  Board,  unless 
seconded,  and,  when  required  by  any  Director  present,  re 
duced  to  writing. 

VI. 

ofDebate"  No  Director  may  speak  more  than  twice,  on  the  same 
question,  without  leave  of  the  Board  ;  nor  more  than  once, 
in  any  case,  until  every  member  choosing  to  speak  shall 
have  spoken. 

VII. 

Questions;       All  questions  shall  be  put  by  the  Chairman,  and  decided 
cuied-     vjva  voce^     Qn  fae  request  of  anv  Director,  the  ayes  and 


BY-LAWS.  51 

noes  shall  be  called  upon  any  question,  and  shall  be  entered 
on  the  Minutes. 

VIII. 

All  Committees  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Chair,  except 
as  herein  otherwise  directed ;  or,  unless  otherwise  ordered  app011 
by  the  Board,  at  the  time. 

IX. 

The  Rules  of  Order  at  all  Meetings  of  the  Board,  ex- 
cept  as  herein  otherwise  provided,  shall  be,  as  nearly  as 
practicable,  those  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

X. 

Elections  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  Board  of  Directors  shall 
be,  in  all  cases,  by  ballot ;  and  no  person  shall  be  chosen  a 
Director,  unless  he  receive  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  all 
the  then  Directors.  No  person  shall  be  elected  to  fill  a 
vacancy  in  the  Board  of  Directors,  who  shall  not  have 
been  nominated  at  a  previous  meeting  of  the  Board — such 
nomination  being  entered  on  the  Minutes. 

The  notice  of  every  meeting,  at  which  an  election  of  a 
Director  is  to  be  held,  shall  specify  the  fact  that  a  vacancy 
in  the  Board  of  Directors  is  to  be  filled  at  such  meeting. 

XI. 

A  Finance  Committee  of  three  members  shall  be  chosen, 
from  among  the  Directors,  at  least  once  in  each  year. 

XII. 

A  Building  Committee,   consisting  of  three   members,  committee, 
shall  be  chosen  from  among  the  Directors,  at  least  once  in 
each  year. 


52  BY-LAWS. 

XIII. 

standing       The   Finance  and  the  Building  Committees,  hereafter, 

Committees; 

how  chosen.  shan  each,  in  all  cases,  be  chosen  by  ballot,  on  the 
second  Tuesday  in  September  ;  or,  in  case  of  no  quorum  at 
tending  on  that  day,  at  the  first  meeting  thereafter.  Va 
cancies  occurring  in  either  of  these  committees,  may  be 
filled  at  any  subsequent  meeting.  Any  member  of  either 
of  these  committees  may  be  removed  before  the  expiration 
of  the  year  for  which  he  was  chosen,  by  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Directors,  taken  by  ayes 
and  noes,  and  entered  upon  the  Minutes. 

XIV. 

Fiscal  year.  rpj.^  fjSCa]  vear  of  faG  Association  shall  commence  on  the 
second  Tuesday  in  September  ;  on  which  day  the  term  of 
all  officers  shall  expire  ;  but  they  shall  continue  to  perform 
the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  until  others  are 
elected. 

XV. 

Sintere^  No  Director  or  officer  of  this  Association  shall,  directly 
or  contracts,  or  indirectly,  be  interested  in  the  loan  of  any  money  bor 
rowed  from  the  Association,  or  be  security  for  any  money 
borrowed  from  the  Association,  or  for  the  performance  of 
any  contract  made  with  the  Association,  or  interested  in  any 
contract  made  with  the  Association,  or  in  the  sale  of  any 
materials  to  the  Association,  or  in  services  rendered  to  the 
Association,  other  than  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their 
respective  offices. 

XVI. 

The  Finance  Committee  shall   specially  attend  to  the 


duties. 

raising  of  funds  for  the  objects  of  the  Association  ;  devis- 


BY-LAWS.  53 

ing  the  various  modes  by  which  such  funds  shall  be  raised  ; 
appointing  collectors,  if  necessary  ;  determining  the  amount 
and  the  mode  of  their  compensation,  (subject,  however,  to 
the  control  of  the  Board  of  Directors  ;)  drafting  and  ad 
dressing  the  various  letters  and  circulars  asking  aid  ;  coun 
selling  and  advising  with  the  Treasurer  in  the  safe  keeping 
and  making  productive  all  unexpended  sums  ;  devising 
the  necessary  checks  to  insure  the  faithful  conduct  and 
honest  co-operation  of  all  subordinate  agents.  They  shall 
audit  all  bills  and  charges  for  the  current  and  incidental 
expenses  of  the  Association,  and  for  salaries.  They  shall 
determine  upon  the  sufficiency  of  all  sureties  that  may  be 
taken  or  required  in  behalf  of  the  Association,  (except  the 
sureties  of  the  Treasurer,  which  shall  be  determined  by  the 
Board  of  Directors.)  They  shall,  from  time  to  time,  ex 
amine,  and  shall  report,  at  least  once  a  year,  to  the  Board 
of  Directors,  their  opinion  upon  the  sufficiency  of  all  sure 
ties  (as  well  of  the  Treasurer  as  others)  taken  in  behalf  of 
the  Association,  specifying  in  such  report  the  names  of  all 
sureties,  the  amount  and  object  for  which  bound,  and  such 
other  particulars  as  they  may  think  proper. 

XVII. 
After  the  adoption  of  the  plan  by  the  Board  of  Directors,  r 

J  '  Committee's 

(which  shall  require  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  duties* 
of  Directors,)  the  Building  Committee  shall  have  the  imme 
diate  charge  and  supervision  of  all  that  relates  to  the  actual 
erection  of  the  monument ;  subject,  however,  in  all  respects, 
to  the  control  and  approval  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 
They  shall  prepare  and  attend  to  the  proper  execution  of 
all  contracts  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Directors  to  be 
made  with  the  builders,  mechanics,  artists,  and  aitizan. 


54  BY-LAWS. 

that  may  be  employed,  or  for  any  materials  to  be  furnish 
ed.  They  shall,  when  thereunto  required  by  a  vote  of  the 
Board,  make  detailed  and  specific  reports  of  the  progress 
of  the  work  to  the  Board  of  Directors. 

XVIII. 

contracts;       No  contract  for  labor,  materials,  or  any  other  object, 

how  to  be 

made,  (except  the  compensation  to  the  collectors,)  that  may  involve 
an  expenditure  of  over  one  hundred  dollars,  shall  be  made, 
except  in  pursuance  of  a  vote  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 
The  Building  Committee  may,  however,  make  contracts 
for  labor,  or  materials,  for  a  less  amount  than  one  hundred 
dollars,  (without  a  previous  vote  of  the  Board,)  provided 
that  the  aggregate  of  all  such  contracts  by  the  Committee, 
without  a  previous  vote  of  the  Board,  shall  not  exceed  the 
sum  of  three  hundred  dollars  in  any  one  month ;  and  all 
such  contracts  shall  be  reported  to  the  Board  at  its  next 
meeting  after  their  being  made,  and  shall  be  noted  on  the 
Minutes. 

All  contracts  made  by  or  in  behalf  of  this  Association, 
shall  be  in  writing,  under  the  Corporate  Seal  of  the  Asso 
ciation,  signed  by  the  President,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence 
or  inability  to  act,  or  of  a  vacancy  in  that  office,  by  the 
Vice-President,  attested  by  the  Recording  Secretary,  and 
endorsed  "  approved,"  and  signed  by  the  Chairman  and  one 
other  member  of  the  Building  Committee. 


XIX. 

The  Treasurer  shall  have  the  custody  of  all  moneys  be- 

tlntirs. 

longing  to  the  Association,  which  moneys  he  shall  keep 
deposited  in  such  Bank  or  Trust  Company  in  the  County 


BY-LAWS.  yi> 

of  Kings,  as  shall  be  selected  by  the  Finance  Committee, 
in  the  name  of  "  The  Martyr  Monument  Association," 
subject  to  draft  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  said  Association  for 
the  time  being.  He  shall  pay  no  money,  and  shall  draw 
no  draft  upon  any  Bank  or  Trust  Company  in  which  the 
moneys  of  the  Association  shall  be  deposited,  except  upon 
a  warrant  or  requisition  drawn  to  the  order  of  the  party  to 
whom  said  payment  is  intended  to  be  made,  specifying  in 
general  terms  the  object  of  the  appropriation,  and  signed 
by  the  President,  (or,  in  case  of  his  absence  or  inability  to 
act,  or  of  a  vacancy  in  that  office,  by  the  Vice-President,) 
and  by  the  Recording  Secretary,  and  countersigned  by  the 
Chairman  and  one  other  member  of  the  Building  Commit 
tee  ;  or,  in  case  the  payment  be  intended  for  the  compen 
sation  of  any  collector,  agent,  or  officer  of  the  Association, 
or  for  the  current  or  incidental  expenses  of  the  Associa 
tion,  then  such  warrant  or  requisition  shall  specify  such 
fact,  and  be  countersigned  by  the  Chairman  and  one  other 
member  of  the  Finance  Committee. 

XX. 

The    Treasurer  shall  keep  accurate  accounts  of  all  his  Treasurer  o 

make  re- 

receipts  and  disbursements,  and  shall  preserve  all  vouchers  port8- 
relating  to  such  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  shall  pre 
sent  to  the  Board  of  Directors,  at  each  monthly  meeting, 
a  statement  of  the  amount  in  the  Treasury  ;  and  shall,  on 
the  first  Tuesday  of  September,  in  each  year,  and  as  often  as 
required  by  a  vote  of  the  Board,  present  a  full  and  de. 
tailed  statement,  in  writing,  of  all  receipts  and  disburse 
ments,  and  of  all  the  monied  transactions  of  the  Associa 
tion,  since  the  preceding  annual  report,  exhibiting  the  actual 
condition  of  the  Treasury,  with  a  particular  statement  of 


56  BY-LAWS. 

all  the  money,  property,  and  effects  of  the  Association  in 
his  hands,  or  under  his  custody. 


XXI. 

The  Recording  Secretary  shall  keep  the  minutes  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  causing  them  to  be 
fairly  engrossed  in  a  book  kept  for  the  purpose,  signed  or 
certified  by  the  President,  Vice-President,  or  Chairman, 
pro  tempore.  He  shall,  in  writing,  notify  the  Directors  of 
all  meetings  of  the  Board,  at  least  two  days  before  such 
meeting,  and  shall  issue  notices  for  all  extraordinary 
meetings  when  required,  in  writing,  to  do  so  by  the  Presi 
dent,  or  any  three  Directors.  He  shall  have  the  custody 
and  charge  of  the  Corporate  Seal,  and  of  all  the  books, 
papers,  correspondence,  contracts,  deeds,  and  documents 
belonging  to  the  Association  ;  and  he  shall  assist  all  the 
committees,  and  shall  attend  and  act  as  Secretary  of  the 
Finance  Committee,  and  (generally)  perform  all  such  duties 
as  shall  from  time  to  time  be  charged  upon  him  by  an  order 
or  resolution  of  the  Board.  He  shall  keep  a  book,  in  which 
he  shall  enter,  in  alphabetical  order,  the  names  of  all  con 
tributors  to  the  Association,  specifying  the  amount  of  the 
contribution,  the  name  of  the  Agent,  Collector,  or  Director 
through  whom  received,  and  the  date  when  actually  re 
ceived  into  the  Treasury  —  which  book  shall,  at  all  times, 
be  open  to  the  inspection  of  any  Director  or  officer,  and 
also  of  any  contributor  to  the  Association.  He  shall  also 
keep  general  books  of  account  of  all  the  monied  transac 
tions  of  the  Association,  which  shall  at  all  times  be  open  to 
the  inspection  of  any  Director. 


BY-LAWS.  57 


XXII. 
The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall  conduct  the  corres-  correspond- 

*  ing  Secreta- 

pondence  of  the  Board,  under  the  inspection  of  the  Presi-  ry's  duties> 
dent. 


XXIII. 
The  Collectors  or  Agents  of  the  Association,  (if  any,)  collectors' 

3  ''  and  Agents' 

shall  keep  regular  accounts,  in  such  form  and  manner  as  duties- 
the  Finance  Committee  shall,  from  time  to  time,  direct,  of 
all  moneys  collected  by  them,  with  the  names  of  the  con 
tributors  ;  and  shall  give  receipts  in  such  form  as  the  said 
Committee  shall  in  like  manner  direct,  to  all  such  contri 
butors  ;  and,  generally,  shall  be  under  the  direction  of  the 
Finance  Committee.  $ 

XXIV. 
The   Corporate  Seal  shall  not  be  affixed  to  any  docu-  corporate 

Seal. 

ment  whatever,  in  behalf  of  the  Association,  except  by  the 
President ;  or,  in  case  of  his  absence  or  inability  to  act,  or 
of  a  vacancy  in  that  office,  by  the  Vice-President,  and  by 
special  resolution  of  this  Board. 


XXV. 


No  repeal,  alteration,  or  amendment  of  these  By-laws  Alteration  of 

By-laws. 

shall  be  made,  except  at  a  meeting  at  which  a  majority  of 
all  the  then  existing  Directors  shall  be  present,  nor  unless 
at  least  five  Directors  vote  in  favor  thereof. 

All  propositions  for  the  repeal,  alteration,  or  amendment 
of  the  By-laws,  shall  be  submitted  in  writing,  and  entered 


58  BY-LAWS. 

upon  the  minutes ;  and  shall  lie  over  for  consideration  until 
the  then  next  stated  meeting  of  the  Board,  unless,  by  an 
unanimous  vote,  (there  being  fourteen  Directors  present,)  the 
Board  shall  determine  to  proceed  immediately  to  the  consid 
eration  thereof.  The  vote  upon  every  question  for  a  re 
peal,  alteration  or  amendment  of  the  By-laws,  shall  be  taken 
by  ayes  and  noes,  and  entered  upon  the  minutes. 


raaj 

IN  King's  County,  a  movement  has  begun,  Designed 
to  secure  the  erection  of  a  suitable  monument  to  the 
heroes  who  suffered  and  died,  during  our  Revolutionary 
struggle,  victims  to  British  cruelty,  in  the  Prison-Ships 
in  the  Wallabout  Bay.  Information  of  its  character, 
the  facts  upon  which  it  is  based,  the  organization  in 
which  it  has  resulted,  and  the  rules  and  regulations 
adopted  to  govern  in  prosecuting  to  completion  the 
intended  object,  are  presented  and  indicated,  sufficiently 
for  the  understanding  of  the  wise-hearted,  in  the  pre 
ceding  pages. 

It  remains  for  the  Finance  Committee,  upon  whom 
has  been  devolved  the  raising  of  the  necessary  funds, 
to  invite  to  the  object  the  attention  of  those  whom 
they  would  specially  interest  in  it,  and  by  whom  it  is 
proposed  it  shall  be  achieved,  and  to  secure  their  effi 
cient  co-operation,  in  giving  and  doing,  to  accomplish 
the  great  and  glorious  undertaking. 

In  pursuit  of  their  duty,  that  Committee  desire  to  be 
considered  as  present  to  you  in  these  words,  soliciting 
you  to  give,  each  one  according  to  his  ability,  and  to 
induce  others  to  do  the  same,  that  to  us  may  be  the 
satisfaction,  and  belong  the  honor,  by  "  memorial  trib 
ute,"  of  wiping  from  our  country  the  disgrace  of  dis- 


60      • 

honoring,  by  indifference,  the  ashes  and  the  memories  of 
that  great  company — in  number  equal  to  all  who  else 
where  died  during  the  whole  revolutionary  contest — 

*  *  *  "the  royal  and  the  brave,  who  lie 
In  the  blank  earth,  neglected  and  forlorn" — 

by  whom,  in  their  measure,  we  have  the  riches  and 
the  glory  of  our  free  inheritance.  What  your  heart 
may  find  to  do,  that  the  Committee  pray  you  to 
do  at  once,  remitting  all  contributions,  in  the  name 
of  the  donors,  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Direc 
tors,  through  the  Recording  Secretary,  assurance 
being  hereby  given  that  if,  from  insufficiency  of  funds, 
the  proposed  work  should  not  proceed,  the  money 
forwarded  shall  be  faithfully  returned  to  the  sources 
from  which  it  may  have  come — an  alternative,  the 
necessity  for  which,  it  is  our  confidence,  Americans 
will  not  permit.  Fifty  thousand  dollars  is  the  least 
expenditure  contemplated ;  seventy-five  thousand,  it  is 
hoped,  will  be  contributed,  that  the  monument,  be 
neath  which,  whatever  time  and  decay,  waste  and 
sacrilege  have  spared  of  those  unnumbered  worthies, 
shall  be  deposited,  may  be  worthy  of  the  object  and  of  us. 
Yours  faithfully, 

ISAAC  H.  SMITH, 
WM.  H.  RICHARDS, 
ROBERT  C.  MORRIS, 

Finance  Committee. 

BROOKLYN,  L.  I.,  May  2,  1855. 


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